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Animal conflicts escalate in a warmer world.
Niccolò Fattorini1, Sandro Lovari2, Sara Franceschi3
1Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy.
The Science of the Total Environment
|January 30, 2023
Summary
Climate change impacts animal behavior, increasing aggression in foraging Apennine chamois due to reduced food availability from warming and drought. This suggests future climate scenarios may escalate intraspecific conflicts in animal societies.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Animal Behavior
- Climate Change Biology
Background:
- Climate change is recognized to affect animal behavior, but its impact on aggressiveness remains unclear.
- Resource limitation due to warming and drought may increase intraspecific conflicts over food availability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how harsh climatic conditions influence agonistic contests in group-living mammals.
- To understand the interaction between climate-mediated vegetation effects and habitat quality on animal aggression.
Main Methods:
- Measured aggressivity indices in Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) across two sites.
- Coupled behavioral data with plant productivity estimates and climatic variables (warming, drought).
- Focused on female chamois exhibiting competition for food patches.
Main Results:
- Aggression rates increased with accumulated warming and decreased rainfall.
- Climate effects on aggression occurred within 15-30 days, matching vegetation productivity cycles.
- These climate-driven effects on aggression were independent of habitat quality.
Conclusions:
- Climate change, through vegetation-mediated effects, is predicted to increase aggression rates by ~50% in Apennine chamois.
- Anticipated climate change scenarios may lead to increased intraspecific conflicts in animal societies.
- Aggression escalation is a potential novel response of group-living animals to global warming.
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